Tempted by a stranger
by Annie-Mae-Black
Summary: This starts the night that Lily died, then goes to when she was eleven and all her adventures at Hogwarts began. Please read and Review
1. Prologue My Last

**Tempted by a stranger**

Prologue – My last

This will be my last. Never again will I sit down, take my quill and write in this diary, never again will I tell you all my thoughts, thoughts that I haven't even told my husband. I will admit that I am scared. I am scared of what I have to do and what is to come. I am scared at leaving my son. I am scared at leaving my friends. I am scared of all the pain that my loved ones will have to face. I am scared because this is the only way.

James and Sirius are making plans to flee, run from him, hide from him, they don't understand, they haven't seen what I have seen; they haven't heard what I have heard. I've tried to tell them, but still they will not listen, they want to run, they want to hide. They don't understand. We can not run. We can not hide. He will catch us. He will find us. And then he will kill us.

I know what I must do, I know what James must do, I know what Sirius must go through, I know the pain that my son will go through, I know this all, but I also know that this is what we must do. What I must do. There is no other way. This is the only way. But I also know that one day he will be gone and the scars left will begin to heal, will begin to mend, and one day they will truly have gone and then people can move on with their lives, begin to live, or begin to live again.

This is my last. I want those who know me to know that fought all the way, that I never gave up, that I never stopped fighting, that I never stopped believing. The time has come. Today will be my last day. The hours are slipping away like water in my hands, I want to stop time, I want to go back, relive everything, start at the beginning, and work my way forwards. This is my last. I haven't done the things that I always wanted to do, I have done things that I never wanted, and they were better. I have done things that I shouldn't have, and I haven't done things that I should have. I'm sorry about that, I wish I could change that, but I can't. Time has run out. This is it. This is the end. This is my last…


	2. Chapter 1 Lily

Chapter One – Lily

My name is Lily Evans, I am eleven years old, I have shoulder length, frizzy, red hair, and green eyes, I live with my parents and my annoying older sister Petunia and oh yeah… I'm a witch. Not the stereotypical type of witch, with a green face, slimy black hair and a long pointed nose with warts on. No I'm a good witch, at least that's what the man told me, last night when he came to my room. He was quite good looking; he had brown hair and gorgeous brown eyes, and the most amazing smile. He was in his late twenties, and his name was Tom.

He told me all about magic and witches and wizards, he explained how some were bad though the majority of us are good. At first I didn't believe him; I mean would you believe a man who just appears in your room in the middle of the night, with nothing more than a loud pop. Though he promised to show me some magic tonight, after I receive my letter from Hogwarts. That's the school I'll be going to, to learn more about Magic and how to control it. I sat listening to him talk nearly all night; he only stopped when we heard my sister going to the bathroom, he said that he had to go, though promised to return. I know that I'm going to stay up tonight, waiting for him to return.

This morning at breakfast Father came in with all the post, on top of the pile was a parchment letter, sealed with red wax, encrusted with a large H. My heart stopped, it was there just like Tom had promised. Father turned it over in his had, examining it with great interest, before swiftly handing it to me. My hand shook as I opened it; I didn't need to read it, as I already knew what it would say, Tom had told me last night. I just stared at it blankly; I barely noticed when Petunia stole it out of my hands. She screamed loudly, causing Mother and Father to rush over to her, I didn't look at either of my parents, I could already see their expressions.

'Lily' Mother said quietly, her voice quiet and unsure, 'Is this a joke?' I shook my head, my hair falling into my face. Nobody spoke for a few minutes; the silence that was filling the kitchen was deafening, pressing around us, suffocating us.

'Lily, if this is real. If you really are a,' Father stammered, unable to say the word.

'A witch,' I filled in the blank, in front of me was my uneaten bowl of cereal. He nodded his eyes that had always been tired now seemed old as well.

'Do you want to go? To this school?' I didn't move, I didn't say anything, and then slowly, against my will I nodded, and croaked out a yes. I'm not sure if I want to go, but now I don't have a choice. Tom has made sure that I will go. My family are my best friends, my parents have always been there for me, and Petunia, though we sometimes fight, like siblings should, has always protected me, when I've needed protecting. Now that's all going to change. I'm going to go away, they're going to stay. I don't want to go, but I know that I must. The time has come; my path is leading me to my destiny, a destiny that isn't linked with theirs. I wish it was, I truly do, but it isn't and I need to accept that.


	3. Chapter 2 Nightmares

Chapter Two – Nightmares

I leave tomorrow, my case is packed, by the door, ready to be placed in the car tomorrow, I have clothes left out to wear tomorrow, while I would be happy to wear tracksuit bottoms and a baggy t-shirt, Mother insists that I wear an uncomfortable smart black skirt and a white blouse, so that instead of looking like an eleven year old school girl I look like a thirty year old woman about to go to a job interview. My hair will be brushed into a smart bun, to carry on with the job interview look; I will wear flat black shoes and natural coloured tights. I will be transformed, no longer will I be Lily, instead I will be Lillian Evans, how could I refuse?

The evening disappeared so quickly, the hours slipped away, the minutes floated by, I tried to hold on, for this was going to be my last evening with my family, because tomorrow things would change, everything would change. Then time stopped, and slowed down, the hours dragged on, the minutes ticked by. We all sat in the living room, glancing at the clock every couple of seconds. Excitement and nervousness nibbled away at me, small bites at first, quickly becoming larger and more painful. Eventually I couldn't take any more, consumed by excitement I sloped of to bed, hugging my parent's goodnight and walking with Petunia to our rooms. I paused in the corridor, the door to my room beckoning me. 'Petunia,' I whispered, tears pricking at my eyes. Obligingly she turned to face me; her blue eyes were rapidly filling with tears. 'I'm going to miss you, who's going to look after me when I end up in trouble?' I asked remembering the countless occasions she had rescued me from teachers, when I had been in trouble.

'I'll miss you too Brat.' I hugged her tightly, this would be the last time I saw her until Christmas, Father had decided that only he would take me to the station to get the Hogwarts express. I sloped into my room; I wasn't surprised to see Tom sitting on my bed, a long thin wand being spun in his fingers casually, he had been coming every night, talking to me, showing me magic. I smiled at him, before joining him on the bed.

'Lily, are you ready for tomorrow, big day?' I nodded, still unsure whether I want to go.

'Yeah, I suppose,' I lied; I got of the bed and walked away from him. 'Tom,' I turned to face him, my heart beating fast, tears filling my eyes. 'You will still come and see me when I'm at Hogwarts' He smiled at me, that deep and meaningful smile I have seen so many times since he has come to me.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of excitement, Tom taught me some more magic, though I was unable to perfect it and then he told me it was time to go to bed. As I lay on the soft mattress and sunk into my soft quilts, I realised how tired I had become over the last couple of days, having stayed up late to talk to Tom. That night I had a strange dream; I was in a graveyard, surrounded by people in black cloaks, in the middle were two people, one an old man, with a snake like face, and dangerous red eyes, pointing a wand at a boy who was hiding from him, clutching an arm, covered n blood. I woke screaming as the man and boy both screamed different things at the same time and two beads of light met.

I lay on my bed, tears rolling down my face, my breath short and sharp, Mother came in, wearing her white nightdress and sat on the end of my bed, I told her about my dream as my tears slowly ceased to flow. By the time I had calmed down sunlight was pouring into my room, though the netted curtain. My father knocked on my door, a sign that I had to get up and get dressed. Sluggishly I pulled myself from my bed and began to get dressed, ripping my tights as I attempted to pull them over my shoes. Looking in the mirror I could see that my face was drawn and very pale while there were large bags under my eyes. I stood gazing at my reflection, mesmerised by how dreadful I looked. I only left my room, with a sad farewell look, when my father shouted up to me, saying that if we didn't leave in the net couple of minutes we would be late.

I ran down to where my parents were waiting in the kitchen, my Mother sipping from her coffee mug. 'Lily, you look dreadful.' I tried to smirk at her and come out with a sarcastic comment but I didn't have enough energy and just collapsed into a chair, gratefully accepting a cup of tea offered to me. I only managed to gulp down half of it, scolding my throat before my parents bustled me into the car. The trip to Kings cross was uneventful; I stared out of the window thinking about what was going to happen when we got to the station. I jumped as my father placed a hand on my shoulder and told me that we had arrived. I slowly climbed out of the car, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I was shocked to see how pale I was, and with my red hair sticking to my face I looked even worse. Pulling my black jacket tighter around my body I walked towards platforms 9 and 10, Father carrying my case, telling me I looked too weak. I didn't try to argue, I didn't have the strength. I paused in front of the barrier separating the two platforms and turned to Father, who had also stopped. He turned to face me and for the first time I could see how tired he looked, his face almost as pale as mine, and his hair line receding rapidly.

'Lily, my special Lily,' He whispered as he held me tightly in his arms. I suddenly felt like a little girl again, remembering all the times he had hugged me tightly, protectively as though he knew something and wasn't telling me.

'Father, are you okay, you look tired.' He gave a weak smile before looking, his eyes laughing.

'Be a good girl, and remember bring back some frogspawn at Christmas. That is the sort of stuff you'll have to use in all these spells you'll be doing?' I tired to smile, but the corners of my lips refused to move.

'You didn't answer my question Father.' I said flatly, tears flooding my eyes and pouring down my cheeks. 'Are you okay father?' The laughter sunk from his face, his tired eyes looked even more tired, his face looked drawn and lacked any colour and his body looked to be in pain, struggling against his light weight.

'No Lily, I'm not alright. I'm tired and have been for a long time. Listen to me.' He grabbed my arm roughly, as though he was in a hurry before speaking in rushed, hurried tone. 'Listen to me. Don't worry about me; I'll be fine, worry about yourself. Promise that no matter what happens you will stay true to yourself; don't be pressured into doing anything, by anyone. Enjoy yourself. Be yourself. Live.' My face had become stained by the tears that refused to stop rolling, I didn't want to live Father, but he dragged me to the barrier and shoved me through, shouting goodbye. I tried to turn around and face him but he had gone, instead I was facing Tom. Relief flooded through my body before I was washed away with a crowd of students all heading to the scarlet steam engine.

Slowly, trying to fight the crowd I climbed onto the Hogwarts express, negligently pulling my case behind me. I wandered down the train peering into compartments to see if they were empty, I was triumphant with the last one. I entered, slumped into the seat and fell into a restless sleep. I found myself in the graveyard again; this time though the boy was surrounded by a group of shadowy people, I couldn't help but be drawn to a woman and a man who were directly behind the boy. The man was an exact replica of the boy, with messy black hair and round black glasses, while the woman looked like my own Mother, but had my father's eyes. I gasped, shocked by what I saw, and with a thump I woke from my dream. My heart was pounding fast, while sweat poured down my face, making me shiver uncontrollably.

I didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the journey, I didn't dare, in case I ended up in the graveyard again. No body came in to the compartment, I didn't see anyone, I didn't speak to anyone, until the train stopped. Not sure what to do I climbed of the train and stood, dwarfed by the crowd of students streaming of the train. I saw a tall man, head and shoulders above the students, calling out loudly, drawing a small group towards him, I made my way towards him, as I neared I heard what he was shouting.

'Firs' years, firs' years over here.' As the last student drifted away, the man lead us to the edge of a large lake, the water black, where there were rows of little, wooden boats. 'No more than four to a boa'' I climbed into one occupied by two girls. One had long mahogany hair, pulled into an elegant plait, while the other girl had black hair, streaked with bright pink. They both smiled at me and we waited for the boats to start moving towards the large, magnificent castle that was on the other side of the lake. As the boats pulled away, two boys still standing on the bank, talking in hushed voices, scanned the boats, paused on the one I was in and the first, ran, jumped and landed with a big thud in it. The back of the boat bounced roughly on the water and sprayed me and the other girl with freezing water. The second boy landed with another thud in the boat, sending it off track and banging into another boat.

'Qui' messin' around you four,' the large man called, crammed into one boat on his own, 'Five, hang on a momen' tha' ain' righ' just stay still and no messin' about,' I glared at the first boy, he had black hair and grey eyes that followed every move I made, I hadn't even looked at the other boy yet. When I did my body tensed, my mouth dropped and I tried to back away from him, which resulted in me falling into the lake. Normally my first reaction would have been to have started swimming frantically, trying to get the surface. However the cold water numbed my body, and the further down I went the less I felt, the weaker I became, the less I cared about reaching the surface. The last of my energy seeped away.

I gasped; cold air filled my lungs, my eyes opened. I was in the lake and the second boys arm was wrapped around my neck, supporting my head, keeping it above water. I tried to push away from him, I had to get away from him, but his arm was strong and held me fast, until the tall man came and scooped me out of the water and into his already crammed boat. He placed his thick, warm moleskin coat around me, as the boats started to move of again. The other boy had climbed back into his boat, and was being wrapped in any spare clothes the girls and the other boy had. 'You alrigh'?' the man asked, I nodded, too weak to answer, glad that we were near to the castle, which looked inviting and warm. Glad that I may finally get a goodnight's sleep, something I hadn't had since I had found out I was a witch, since I had met Tom.


End file.
